The present invention relates to a data processing method and apparatus and, in particular, discloses a data encoding method and apparatus for storing data in a fault tolerant form on photographs using an infra-red ink wherein the data is original image data taken from a camera system.
Various methods, systems and apparatus relating to the present invention are disclosed in the following co-pending applications filed by the applicant or assignee of the present invention simultaneously with the present application:
The disclosures of these co-pending applications are incorporated herein by reference.
Various methods, systems and apparatus relating to the present invention are disclosed in the following co-pending application filed by the applicant or assignee of the present invention on Jul. 10, 1998:
U.S. Ser. No. 09/113,070
U.S. Ser. No. 09/112,785
The disclosures of this co-pending application are incorporated herein by reference.
Various methods, systems and apparatus relating to the present invention are disclosed in the following co-pending applications filed by the applicant or assignee of the present invention on Jun. 30, 2000:
U.S. Ser. No. 09/608,308,
U.S. Ser. No. 09/608,779
U.S. Ser. No. 09/607,987
U.S. Ser. No. 09/608,776
U.S. Ser. No. 09/607,250
U.S. Ser. No. 09/607,991
The disclosures of these co-pending applications is incorporated herein by reference.
As the applicant has previously noted in pending applications U.S. Ser. Nos. 09/113,070 and 09/112,785 there is a general need for a print media scanning system that allows for high volumes of computer data to be stored on a simple print media, such as a card while simultaneously tolerating a high degree of corruption when read by a scanning device. For example, the form of distribution can suffer a number of data corruption errors when the surface is scanned by a scanning device. The errors can include:
1. Dead pixel errors which are a result of reading the surface of the card with a linear CCD having a faulty pixel reader for a line thereby producing the same value for all points on the line.
2. Preferably, the system adopted can tolerate errors wherein text is written by the owner of the card on the surface. Such errors are ideally tolerated by any scanning system scanning the card.
3. Various data errors on the surface of the card may arise and any scuffs or blotches should be tolerated by any system determining the information stored on the surface of the card.
4. A certain degree of xe2x80x9cplayxe2x80x9d exists in the insertion of the card into a card reader. This play can comprise a degree of rotation of the card when read by a card reader.
5. Further, the card reader is assumed to be driven past a linear image sensor such as a CCD by means of an electric motor. The electric motor may experience a degree of fluctuation which will result in fluctuations in the rate of transmission of the data across the surface of the CCD. These motor fluctuation errors should also be tolerated by the data encoding method on the surface of the card.
6. The scanner of the surface of the card may experience various device fluctuations such that the intensity of individual pixels may vary. Reader intensity variations should also be accounted for in any system or method implemented in the data contained on the surface of the card.
Ideally, any scanning system should be able to maintain its accuracy in the presence of errors due to the above factors.
In applications U.S. Ser. Nos. 09/113,070 and 09/112,785, the applicant disclosed a method and apparatus for printing data in an encoded fault tolerant form on the back of a photograph preferably using black ink on a white background. The data represented the photograph in a digital image file format and/or data comprising a computer programme script which could be run to recreate the image or to apply some effect to the image. A programming language called a VARK script was invented for this purpose which was designed to be portable and device independent.
The present invention seeks to provide an alternative to that method of encoding and recording data by printing the digital data corresponding to the image in an encoded fault tolerant digital form over or with the image itself using infra-red ink, the image and the data being recorded on a print media using an ink jet printing system as disclosed by the applicant.
It is an object of the present invention to provide for a method of printing digital data on a photograph including the steps of:
a) receiving image data corresponding to an image;
b) converting said image data into an encoded fault tolerant digital form;
c) printing out said fault tolerant digital form of said image data on a surface of a print media using an ink jet printing process with an invisible ink while simultaneously printing out said image data as a photographic image in a visual, human readable form on the same surface of said print media.
Preferably, said encoding step includes compressing said image data and processing it using a Reed-Solomon algorithm.
The invisible ink may be an infra-red absorbing ink with negligible absorption in the visible spectrum.
It is a further object of the invention to provide apparatus for printing in infra-red ink encoded fault tolerant digital data on a photographic, said apparatus including:
a) a camera system for imaging an image and for outputting said image in a digital format;
b) means for processing said digital format of said image into a fault tolerant encoded digital form;
c) means for printing said image and said fault tolerant encoded digital form using an ink jet printing process said fault tolerant encoded digital form being printed using an infra-red ink.
Preferably, the means for printing employs a pagewidth printhead using an ink jet structure, for example, as disclosed in applicant""s U.S. Ser. Nos. 09/608,308, 09/608,779, 09/607,987, 09/608,776, 09/607,250, and 09/607,991 with a print roll feeding print media therethrough, for example as disclosed in applicant""s Artcam applications, U.S. Ser. Nos. 09/113,070 and 09/112,785.
According to a preferred form of the invention the information is printed out on a photograph which may be a standard size of approximately 102xc3x97152 mm (4xe2x80x3xc3x976xe2x80x3) compared to the prior art data encoded card which has a format of 85 mmxc3x9755 mm (approximately the size of a credit card). The increased size of the recording media allows approximately three to four times as much data to be recorded on the photograph compared to the previous format while using a similar or identical data encoding technique.